Mebane native Odell Thompson, North Carolina's last active black banjoist, was killed on April 28, 1994, when he was struck by a car. He had performed earlier that day at the Merle Watson Memorial Festival.

Jens Kruger and his brother Uwe grew up in Switzerland. He recounts growing up in a musical home and the discovery when they were teenagers of a recording from a place they had never heard of (North Carolina) and the two players, Earl Scruggs and Doc Watson. He goes on to relate coming to North Carolina in 1982, meeting Bill Monroe, playing at the Grand Ole Opry, and in 1997, he and Uwe played at MerleFest. Today, the brothers live in the state and travel this country and the world playing the music they discovered as teenagers.